The Supreme Court order is a significant win for the Trump administration, which has fought all year to impose a travel ban against citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. The order means it can be enforced while challenges to the policy make their way through the legal system, US media reported.
Such a move will only contribute to a worsening climate of hate aimed at South-Asian communities, said South-Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) in a statement.
"No one should be discriminated against on the basis of how they look, how they choose to pray, or their country of origin. 'Muslim Ban 3.0' remains reprehensible at its core and discriminatory in its intent.
"While the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the 'Muslim Ban', court after court has consistently rejected it as an outright discrimination and a threat to our most fundamental constitutional protections," Raghunathan said.
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The FBI's 2016 hate crime statistics reveal that assaults against Muslims have surpassed levels reached in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Since the election, SAALT has documented over 205 incidents of hate violence aimed at South Asians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs and Middle Eastern Americans, a 58 per cent increase from the year prior.
Due to a massive underreporting of hate crimes, we know this is just a fraction of the attacks our communities experience regularly, it added.
As a result of the 7-2 vote by the Supreme Court, Trump's travel ban, which restricts travel to the US by people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad without bona fide connections to America, can take full effect while legal challenges proceed.
The court gave no reason for its decision, but said it expected lower court review of the executive orders to proceed quickly.
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